Effective and Safe Control of Plague-Carrying Fleas Using Insect Growth Regulators: A Review Study

The use of blood-sucking insects is one of the most important methods for pathogen prevalence in biological warfare. Fleas are one of the most important insects in transmitting microbial agents. Developing and updating new and specific methods of insect control is essential for passive defense and preparation of biological attacks as well as unexpected disease epidemics. For successful flea management, the used strategies must be selective and have minimal impact on the environment and humans. In the current study, effects of hormone-like compounds and IGRs on fleas control have been reviewed. Databases including EMBASE, PubMed, Scopus, Science direct, Citation Index, and Google Scholar were used as authentic sources. To retrieve the data, the search strategy and selection of articles was based on the keywords including Control, Fleas, Siphonaptera, Insect growth regulator, Insect hormone mimics, with different possible combinations were performed. We also used the keywords mainly mentioned in the titles of the articles without time limit but limited to 2020. The results of the study demonstrated that among the commercial growth regulators including juvenile hormone analogues, ecdysteroid agonists, and chitin synthesis inhibitors, the juvenile hormone analogues and chitin synthesis inhibitors have been most effective against fleas. In addition to their specificity, the growth regulators apart their safety are also considered persistant then their counterparts. These compounds can suppress flea populations and prevent the continued use of chemical pesticides. On the other hand, they impair resistance development in fleas. When fleas are used in biological warfare, growth regulators such as pyriproxyfen and lufenuron can disrupt flea survival and reproduction and control flea populations in a short while without harming own forces.